Fall = Casseroles

Okay, so the lazy months of summer are well past, and homeschooling has resumed smoothly enough.  The cooler weather has returned, which means it's time to turn up the heat and make our homes cozy.  How better to do that than to turn on the oven and make a simple dinner, and throw in a sweet treat while we're at it.  So, in honor of the wonderful invention of the casserole, here's a family favorite that I grew up eating, quite often.  You can either use pork chops (that have been browned in a frying pan with a little oil first) or diced chicken.  Don't forget to have a great recipe for cookies or sweet bread while you have a preheated oven!

Chicken (or Pork Chops), Potatoes and Mushroom Soup Casserole
1-2 lbs. diced boneless, skinless chicken breast
6-8 potatoes, peeled and sliced thin
2 cans cream of mushroom soup (use can to add 1/2 - 1 full can amount of milk)
salt, pepper, garlic salt (to taste or optional)

Super simple instructions!
Grease a 9x13" baking pan, then toss it all in together, then cook for 1 hour, at 400 degrees.

Serve with additional veggies or salad of choice.

Once again, it's my favorite season here in Colorado...Fall (aka Autumn)!!!  I love when the weather turns brisk and cool, when the leaves on the trees give way to the beautiful colors underneath and begin to fall everywhere.  My thoughts turn toward bundling up in blankets and sweaters, and of baking scrumptious treats!  One of my all-time-favorite recipes for this time of year is chocolate chip pumpkin bread.  I made some Saturday, and my house smelled wonderful.  I then brought my "offering" to Sunday morning coffee fellowship and it was devoured quite quickly.  And again, I was asked for another recipe, and responded with, "it'll be on my blog"!  :)

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread
1 3/4 c. all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 c. sugar
3 large eggs, beaten
1 c. canned pumpkin
1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 c. milk
3/4 c. chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare the bottom & sides of loaf pan with butter & flour.
2. In medium bowl, sift together first 5 ingredients.
3. In large bowl, beat the butter until smooth. Add sugar and beat a little longer.  Then add the eggs and beat. Add the pumpkin and vanilla, beat some more.  Beat in flour mixture, alternately with the milk.  Finally, stir in the chocolate chips.  Pour into prepared pan and place on center rack in oven.  Bake for 55 minutes, or until completely cooked.  (You can insert a toothpick in the middle, and if it comes out clean, the bread is done.)

Tator-tot Bake

One of my family's favorite casseroles is this one, unless of course, I have burned them out on making it too many times.  I have even made it for friends, who are almost convinced that this is one of my own personal inventions.  But, truth be told, I found it from another source.  Not sure where, but I guess that doesn't matter.  When our friends hear tator-tot bake, they think of us.

Tator-tot Bake
1 lb. ground beef
1 can green beans
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
handful of cheese (cheddar or preferred)
1 bag frozen tator-tots

1. Brown ground beef, drain, then pour into casserole dish.

2. Add the cans of green beans and both soups, with ground beef and mix well.  Sprinkle cheese evenly over meat/soup/green bean mixture.  Place desired amount of tator-tots on top (I use about 3/4 of the bag).

3. Bake about 25-30 minutes at 450 degrees, or until tots are well cooked and cheese has thoroughly melted.

Serves about 4-6, depending on serving size.  You can serve with some bread or a salad. 

Chorizo Tacos

Ground pork is a pretty cheap item to purchase.  It seems to be cheaper than ground turkey and beef, so when I'm on a budget, it's one item I reach for while shopping.  Problem is, I don't really like the flavor of it. However, I have 2 pretty good recipes for using it, and this one is pretty popular with my family.  Very cheap and easy to prepare.

Chorizo Tacos
1 lb. ground pork
1/2 tsp. salt, pepper
2-3 tbsp. chili powder
1 tbsp. oregano
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. sugar
2 tbsp. cider vinegar
1 1/4 tbsp. water
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 8oz. can green salsa (Herdez is good)
Handful of shredded/grated cheese (cheddar is good)

1. Add all ingredients (except salsa & cheese) in medium bowl, mix well. Cover and refrigerate for about 30+ mins.

2. Fry chorizo until completely cooked.  Then add salsa and cheddar, mixing well.  Once the cheese has melted, remove from heat.

3. You are now ready to place about 1 tablespoon of the chorizo onto warmed corn tortillas. Garnish with desired items (lime juice, more cheese, cilantro, onion, etc.) or just as is. 

Scalloped Potatoes (au gratin) & Fruit Pizza

If you know my family, we LOVE to have people over for food!  Whether it's for a weeknight dinner, a Sunday lunch or just coffee (or ice cream, lol), we enjoy spending time with others.  Since my pastor's wife is out of town visiting her family, we decided to invite our pastor over for dinner.  Yes, we know our pastor.  One of the blessings in going to smaller church (not mega-church), is that you actually KNOW your pastor and his family.  We've actually had them over quite a lot in the 3 years they've been here.  So I've had the chance to make many different meals.  One favored (and often requested) meal is scalloped potatoes (also called potatoes au gratin).  Since I like cheese so much, I use a lot, but you can adjust your recipe to your family's personal taste.  I also use ham, but this can be a vegetarian dish if you want to just leave out the meat.  This is a great recipe for using up any leftover holiday ham pieces, or you can just purchase a ham steak.  I also am including a great recipe I found for Fruit Pizza.  A simple dessert that is very pleasing to the eyes, and taste buds alike! :)

Scalloped Potatoes & Ham


6-8 medium sized russet (brown) potatoes, peeled and sliced thin
1 (1 lb.) ham steak or 2 c. leftover ham pieces, cubed thick or thin (according to preference)
8-16 oz. shredded cheese (cheddar or one of many blend options)
salt, pepper & garlic salt, to taste
1-2 c. milk
1 stick margarine/butter

1. Place the potatoes, cubed ham, cheese and seasonings in a large bowl.  Mix well with your hand.

2. Empty the mixture into a greased 9x13" baker or casserole dish.  Slowly pour the milk evenly over the mixture.  Take the stick of butter and cut little slabs of margarine/butter and place sporadically over the mixture.

3. Bake for about 1 hour in oven.  I use 375-400 degrees, depending on how fast/slow I want it cooked.  You may also want to cover with aluminum foil for the first 45 mins., then remove foil for the last 15 mins.

Makes about 6 servings.

Fruit Pizza

• 1 (18 ounce) package refrigerated sugar cookie dough
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 pint fresh strawberries (halved), blueberries or raspberries, carefully rinsed
• 2 kiwifruit, peeled and sliced
• 1 (11 ounce) can mandarin oranges, drained
• 
  
• 1. On a pizza stone, press cookie dough into a 12-in. circle. Bake at 375 degrees F for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely on a wire rack.
• 
  
• 2. In a small mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Spread over crust. Arrange the strawberries/raspberries/blueberries, kiwi and oranges over cream cheese mixture. Refrigerate for 1 hour.  

Heather's Homemade Fried Chicken & Gravy

Since we have a visiting pastor from another country, I decided yesterday to make an all-American dinner of fried chicken, mashed potatoes & gravy, veggies and bread rolls.  It turned out very well, and even received accolades of "opening my own restaurant" and "making my own cookbook".  I may one day.  Meanwhile, I can proudly say that this recipe is totally my own!  I was craving some good fried chicken one night when my husband and son were busy at church.  With my new-found love of "tweaking recipes" and trying my own hand at spices, I was quite successful.  So, I decided to add my name to it. :)

You can easily double/triple/etc. this recipe.  I quadripled the flour/spice and milk/egg mixes to accommodate about 12-14 chicken breasts.  Obviously the gravy recipe would change as well.  Oh, and I ran out of white flour, and used wheat, which worked out great! :)

Heather's Homemade Fried Chicken & Gravy
2 chicken breasts, boneless/skinless
1-2 c. oil
1 egg, beaten
1 Tbsp. milk

Flour & Spice Mix:
1/2 tsp each: paprika, chili pdr., season salt, garlic pdr., onion pdr., parsley
1/4 tsp each: salt, pepper
1/4 c. flour (wheat or white will work)

1. Preheat oil in skillet, on medium-high heat.

2. Add all ingredients for Flour & Spice Mix into small size bowl.

3. In separate bowl, beat together egg & milk.

4. Take a chicken breast and dip in flour/spice mix, then dip in egg/milk mixture, then back in flour/spice mix, turning to coat. Place in skillet.  Repeat with additional breast.  Set aside remaining flour mix for gravy.

5. Cook approx. 30 mins. or until cooked (no pink), turning over about halfway through.  Once completely cooked, remove chicken pieces from pan and drain on paper towel-lined plate.

Gravy
Remaining flour/spice mix
Additional 1 c. flour
1 tsp. chicken bouillon
salt & pepper, to taste
Drippings from cooking chicken, drained of grease
1-2 c. milk

In separate pre-heated pan, add flour/spice mix remains and additional flour, browning for about 1 minute on medium heat.  Add drippings, milk, bouillon and salt/pepper, stirring continuously with wire whisk.  Heat until thickened, about 3-5 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Serve over chicken, with mashed potatoes or other desired side dish.

Tres Leches (3 Milks Cake)

Last night, at church, we had a fellowship (food!), after our evening service, in honor of our visiting international pastor.  Despite it being a last-minute planning of who-brings-what, it turned out wonderfully!  We had albondigas (spanish meatball soup), beans, rice, papitas (fried potatoes), enchiladas, fresh tortillas, green chile, cream cheese salsa and chips, other assorted items, and tres leches!  It was truly a feast!  Both for the eyes, but also for the taste buds.  Most everyone was impressed with my tres leches cake, and so here I provide the recipe.  Obviously, I don't keep recipe "secrets". Oh, and this is a very simple "gringa" (white girl) version.
: )

Tres Leches
1 yellow/vanilla box cake, prepared as directed on packaging, let cool
1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 12 oz. can evaporated milk
4 cups whole milk or whipping cream
1 8 oz. container of whipped topping, thawed
some cinnamon to sprinkle on top

1. Prepare cake as directed.  I actually used additional milk in place of the water called for in cake batter. Bake per directions, then cool completely.

2. Mix together sweet. cond. milk, evap. milk and whole milk/whipping cream.

3. Poke a bunch of holes (using fork or something the size of a pencil) all over the cake.

4. Slowly pour the milk mix over the entire cake, allowing it to soak up the milks.

5. Cover and refrigerate for a couple of hours, again, allowing cake to soak up milks.

6. Before serving, top with whipped topping and sprinkle with some cinnamon.  You could also replace the cinnamon with fresh berries on top.

Now I was actually able to double up this recipe with 2 box cakes.  Then I added about an additional cup of whole milk into the milk mixture.  Worked great!